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Selective Touch

Touchscreen Menu Selection Built for Dining Rooms and Tray Lines

Selective Touch is Dietech's staff-facing ordering screen. It shows each patient's diet order and allergies, presents only the items that diet permits, totals nutrients live as selections are made, warns when a meal goes outside its limits, adds always-served standing items automatically, and routes the finished ticket to the right printer.

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Selective Touch mid-order for a resident on a consistent carbohydrate diet, with colour-coded menu tiles on the left and the selected items on the right, each listing fat, sodium, carbohydrate, protein and calories, above meal totals shown against the prescribed ranges.
Each selection shows its nutrients, and the totals track the meal against the resident's prescribed ranges as items are tapped.

Selective Touch, screen by screen

Real screens from Dietech, shown with sample residents and a sample menu. It runs in the web browser on any tablet, laptop, or touchscreen.

Selective Touch resident list showing a grid of resident cards with name, room, unit, diet order, and whether the lunch order is saved or printed.
Pick the residentEvery resident's diet order and order status for the meal, sortable by name, room, or tray line.
Item information panel for Baked Cod with Lemon with portion and recipe chips, a High Protein flag, a Nutrition Facts label, a Fish allergen badge and the ingredient list.
Item detailsTap the info icon on any tile for nutrition facts, allergens, and ingredients without leaving the order.
Nutrient Warning dialog listing Carbohydrate over by 34 and Sodium over by 100, with Go Back and Continue Anyway buttons, and the meal totals behind it in red.
Nutrient limitsWhen a consistent carbohydrate lunch goes over its limits, Selective Touch asks before the order is saved.
Always Served screen with tiles for condiments, beverages and supplements, and the order panel listing the meal with water, a margarine cup and a nutrition shake added.
Always servedCondiments, water, and supplements are managed on their own screen and join the order with the meal.
Table and seat mode with dining rooms and seatings on the left, twelve tables with seat counts, and the residents assigned to each seat at Table 1.
Tables and seatsWork the dining room table by table, with each seat showing who is sitting there.
Selective Touch in point-of-sale mode with an open register shift, prices on each item, a subtotal, tax, and a meal total of $14.85.
Point of saleWith point of sale turned on, the same screen prices each item, adds tax, and runs against an open register shift.
Review screen with Pay With Cash selected, $20.00 tendered and $5.15 change, Bill To Account and Pay With Card options, ready times, and Print Now, Print Later, and Hold Tray.
Review and payBefore the ticket prints, staff take payment, pick a ready time, and print now, later, or hold the tray.
Page Layout editor for lunch listing the Main and Always Served pages, a table placing each menu category by row, column and span, and a colour preview of the tile grid.
Your layoutEach facility arranges its category tiles page by page and meal by meal.

Why facilities are switching to Selective Touch Online

How an order is taken

Designed around how a dining room actually runs rather than around a database form.

  1. 1

    Pick the meal and day

    Staff select the service date and mealtime, and the menu cycle in use. Facilities running several menus (regular, selective, independent living, holiday) choose the one that applies.

  2. 2

    Choose the patient or the seat

    Orders can be taken from a patient list or from a table and seat layout, which is how most dining rooms actually work: you serve a table, not an alphabetical list.

  3. 3

    The diet is already applied

    The patient header shows the diet order, texture, and fluid consistency, with allergy, adaptive equipment, special needs, and notes counts as badges. The menu is built to that diet before it is displayed.

  4. 4

    Tap to select

    Items are colour-coded tiles grouped by category, each showing its portion and any texture or thickening that applies. Tapping toggles the item; the order summary builds alongside in real time.

  5. 5

    Limits are checked

    Nutrient totals turn red the moment a selection pushes the meal outside the prescribed range, and a warning asks staff to go back or continue before the order is saved. Allergies and never-serve items are applied when the menu is built, and each item's details flag any conflict with the patient's allergies.

  6. 6

    Review, print, and serve

    The order is reviewed in full, then routed to the correct printer or print queue for the tray line, with always-served items added automatically.

What Selective Touch includes

Menu selection, clinical safety checks, and point of sale on one screen.

CapabilityHow it works
Touch-first interfaceLarge colour-coded tiles sized for gloved hands and dining room use, not a desktop grid adapted to touch
Diet-built menusThe menu is generated against the patient's diet order, texture modification, and fluid consistency before it is shown
Live nutrient metersNutrient totals build as items are selected, with a meter bar showing where the meal sits against the prescribed range
Nutrient warningsTotals turn red as soon as the meal goes outside its nutritional limits, and a warning asks staff to go back or continue before the order is saved or the next meal is opened
Allergy & never-serveNever Serve and Replace With adjustments are applied when the patient's menu is built, and each item's details flag any conflict with the patient's allergies in red
Always-served itemsStanding items a patient always receives are added automatically rather than re-selected at every meal
Table & seat handlingDining room orders taken by table and seat, matching how service actually runs
Menu cycle selectionMultiple menu cycles available at the point of order: regular, selective, independent, holiday, and seasonal
Item detail & modifiersItem info, portion changes, added items, child items, and free-text notes on any selection
Point of saleMeal rate totals, employee and guest sales, shift management, and payment handling for cafeteria service
Print routingNamed printers and a print queue so tickets reach the right station on the line

Hospitals and long-term care

Hospitals

Tray line and cafeteria

  • Selective menu ordering against EMR-sourced diet orders
  • Cafeteria point of sale with employee and guest meal handling
  • Shift management and meal rate totals
  • Print routing to the correct tray line station
  • Feeds the kitchen display and delivery board directly
Nursing homes & LTC

Dining room service

  • Orders taken by table and seat rather than alphabetically
  • Always-served standing items applied automatically
  • Never Serve adjustments for resident dislikes applied to every menu
  • Multiple menu cycles including holiday and seasonal
  • Live nutrient meters for residents on restricted intakes

Frequently asked questions

Touchscreen ordering, nutrient limits, table service, and point of sale.

What is Selective Touch?

Selective Touch is Dietech's touchscreen ordering screen. Staff use it to take selective menu orders in dining rooms, on tray lines, and at cafeteria points of sale. It shows the patient's diet order and allergies, presents only menu items compatible with that diet, builds nutrient totals live as items are chosen, and routes the finished ticket to the right printer.

How does Selective Touch stop a nutritionally inappropriate order?

Two ways. First, the menu itself is generated from the patient's diet order, texture requirement, and fluid consistency, so incompatible items are not offered. Second, nutrient totals accumulate live as items are selected and a meter bar shows where the meal sits against the prescribed range; if a selection pushes the meal outside its limits, the totals turn red at once and a warning stops the order before it is saved, rather than a report flagging it the next day.

Can it handle dining rooms organised by table rather than by resident?

Yes. Orders can be taken from a table and seat layout as well as from a patient list. This matters more than it sounds: dining room staff serve a table at a time, and software that only offers an alphabetical resident list forces them to work against the way the room actually operates.

What are always-served items?

Items a particular patient receives at every meal, such as a specific beverage, a condiment, or a supplement, added to the order automatically rather than being re-selected each time. They are managed in their own panel, so a standing preference is recorded once and then applied consistently.

Can Selective Touch handle cafeteria and employee sales?

Yes. It includes point-of-sale handling: meal rate totals, employee selection, guest meals, shift management, and payment. The same screen therefore covers patient meal selection and staff cafeteria service rather than requiring a separate till system.

What hardware does Selective Touch run on?

It runs in a browser on touchscreen terminals, all-in-one POS units, and tablets. Because Dietech runs in the web browser, the same screen works on a fixed dining room terminal and on a tablet carried between tables.

How is Selective Touch different from bedside ordering?

Selective Touch is staff-operated and built for volume: one member of staff working a dining room, a tray line, or a till, moving quickly between patients. Bedside ordering in eTableServ is patient-operated on a screen in the room. Facilities commonly run both, with the dining room on Selective Touch and rooms on bedside or self-order.

Related capabilities

Patient Self-Order

The patient-operated counterpart. Patients order for themselves from a link, within their diet order.

Allergen Management

The allergy, intolerance, and never-serve record applied to every patient's menu.

Kitchen Display System

Where the finished order lands: live tray line display, delivery board, and patient ID verification.

Try Selective Touch on your own menu cycle

Bring a menu cycle and a few real diet orders, and we will take live orders on the touchscreen so you can see how it behaves at dining room speed.

Schedule a DemoCall (716) 565-9400